An invitation to Bold, Long-View Design Thinking
As we look ahead to the Living Future 2026 Conference (LF26), we stand at a moment of powerful reflection and possibility. For two decades, our community has pushed boundaries, lifted standards, and redefined what it means to design for life. Now, with our 20th anniversary on the horizon, we are called to look not just a few steps ahead, but a century forward.
This year’s theme, Designing the Next 100 Years, invites us to shift our mindset from urgency to legacy. How will our buildings, communities, and systems look in 2126? What legacies will we leave for future generations of humans and all species? Regenerative design isn’t about knowing the future, but creating the conditions conducive to life. It asks us: What does it mean to be a good ancestor? How do the places we design today heal past harms and restore balance for what lies ahead?
Time as Teacher, Legacy as Lens
Designing for the next century is a challenge rooted in today’s realities—climate disruption, cultural change, and technological acceleration. The decisions we make now—the materials we choose, how we design our built environment, the systems we question—will ripple across generations. Long-view design demands both imagination and accountability, pushing us to consider not just what’s possible, but what’s necessary, guided by time as a wise constraint for just, generous, and resilient solutions.
Tracks Shaping the Future
Our Call for Proposals for LF26 funnels into four big questions that are our conference tracks. Each offers a unique lens, but together they provide a wider perspective on what we’re building, how, and for whom.
Track #1: Radical Climate Action
Big question – What would it take to make climate-positive design the baseline for every project?
Shifting from net-zero to net-positive futures goes beyond carbon neutrality to explore regenerative climate strategies like carbon drawdown, carbon positive materials, district scale solutions, and climate-positive buildings that give more than they take.
Track #2: Thriving Communities
Big question – How do we design buildings that dismantle injustice and nurture belonging and wellbeing?
Designing for health and equity goes beyond technical specs to explore community-led development, culturally responsive architecture, inclusive engagement, housing justice, Red List free materials, and public health integration.
Track #3: Nature as Co-Designer
Big question – Must we always trade nature for progress – or is it time to demand both?
Restoring ecosystems and ecosystem services through the built environment centers nature not just as a backdrop, but as an active participant in design. This track explores biophilic placemaking, biomimicry, biodiversity corridors, and radical integration of ecology into urban life.
Track #4: Catalysts of Transformative Change
Big question – What innovations and systemic shifts will rewrite the rules of development?
Let’s take a deeper look at the innovative tools, policies and financial models that are successfully driving change and celebrate the bold innovations – in technology, governance, and finance – that can dismantle barriers and accelerate a regenerative future at scale.
A Conference Built for Participation
Living Future’s annual event is more than a conference; it’s a global stage for breakthrough ideas, game-changing partnerships, and the boldest solutions for regenerative buildings, products, and communities. It’s where collaboration flourishes and transformation takes root.
We invite interactive, inspiring, and real-world applicable session proposals. We’re seeking sessions that spark imagination, invite participation, and create space for collective insight. Think beyond traditional panels—propose something that challenges assumptions, uplifts community voices, and catalyzes action.Whether you’re an architect, engineer, manufacturer, developer, policymaker, advocate, or academic working at the intersection of design, equity, and regeneration, this stage is yours.
Why This Moment Matters
Designing for the next 100 years is not about having all the answers, but about asking better questions and daring to imagine a future where all life thrives. It’s a reminder that we don’t build alone and that our decisions today will echo in the lives of generations to come.
This is our chance to mark a milestone with vision, honoring our foundation and collectively committing to a future that is not just sustainable, but truly regenerative.
Submit your proposal by September 21st
The Call for Proposals is now open. Share your ideas, frameworks, case studies, and your provocations. Show us what it means to design with deep time in mind. Let us build the next 100 years, together.
